Friday, September 30, 2005

Study: Small Children Hazardous to Your Health

OK, that's not exactly what it says. They found that toddlers and preschoolers lead off flu epidemics, with 3- and 4-year-olds presenting flu symptoms up to a month before the illness starts showing up in adults. Preschoolers generally start showing signs about the end of September, which for those of you paying attention to the calendar, is right about now. Flu-like symptoms in the under-5 set, particularly in the 0-2-year-old set, are a good predictor of how deadly a flu outbreak will be. In short, children are adorable, but they're basically influenza's Typhoid Mary. Or, as the paper's lead author says, "The data indicate that when kids are sneezing, the elderly begin to die."

Which brings us to the practical application of the paper's findings. Currently immunization policy is to push flu shots hard on people most at risk for dying of the disease: the very old, the very young, and those with underlying respiratory ailments. The paper's authors suggest a different approach: make a priority of immunizing the toddling germ factories that are spreading the virus to Grandma, Grandpa, baby, and pretty much every set of homo sapien lungs in screaming distance at the supermarket. Right now, we're trying to limit deaths, when it might be a more efficient use of resources to try to limit the overall scope of an outbreak. Why fight a pandemic when you can keep it from becoming a pandemic in the first place?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's a better idea and better for the munchkin's immune systems: keep sickies home and let their bodies fight it off away from the general public. Ann O.